The camera turned away and looked back up into the deep shadows of the tower as they pressed upward.
“Are you Doctor Alberto Santini?” Jorden questioned, though only silence followed. “Did you jump from the bell tower eighty years ago?” There was a pause in her questions though it sounded as though there was a struggle somewhere behind them and again the sound of rapid footfalls, though they were still distant. “Do you know that you’re dead?”
Nothing but silence followed the last question, though a brief moment later the footfalls started up again and seemed to be getting closer. Jorden thought back on the excursion into the tower and knew that she didn’t hear the footfalls then, otherwise she would have commented on them.
“I know that you’re here Doctor Santini,” Isis’s voice came from a short distance away from the recorder. “Please talk to us.”
Jorden remembered only silence after Isis’s plea but there was groaning from somewhere below them.
“Why did you jump from the tower?” Jorden’s voice asked again and the strain that was apparent in her voice was also apparent on her face when Tony panned by her. “What were you running from? Why are you free now?”
“Aiutarmi! Aiutarmi!” called from a distance but quickly grew closer.
No one dared say anything until the playback was over, but Jorden made a note of the EVP. She wanted to go back to when the playback ended. Unfortunately the video remained empty of anything paranormal.
Matt’s voice was muffled as he said something to her and she remembered him asking if she was okay.
“Can you tell us who is here with us or are we alone?” Jorden asked.
“Aiutarmi!” repeated, rapidly growing closer. “Il demone `e qui!”
Syd, Nigel and Jonas all jumped at the statement but remained quiet.
The sudden gust of wind they experienced in the tower could be heard as it rushed up the stairs and its effect could be seen on the camera, though more disturbing was the low, unearthly growl that followed it.
The video playback began to jump and skip then suddenly died, though the audio recorders kept going until the end.
Silence filled the room for a moment and it seemed that no one was ready to speak up.
“Well the EVP was about the same as we got earlier in the investigation,” Syd said finally. “What seems like a human entity calling for something to leave him then crying out for help and eventually saying that the demon is here followed by saying I’m free.”
“Almost exactly like the first night,” Jesse pointed out. “It’s almost coming out like a residual haunting and not an intelligent one.”
“Perhaps,” Isis said as she flopped onto the sofa next to Nigel. “But that isn’t what I felt, and the recordings do have differences.”
“And what about that wind?” Tony asked; his always deep voice now made deeper by worry.
“A storm was kicking up outside,” Saph said evenly. “It could have gusted through the doors of the bell tower and up the stairs.”
“I shut the doors,” Matt insisted.
“Are you sure?” Jesse questioned.
“Are you calling us liars?” Tony growled.
Jorden stepped in between them. “This is hardly the time or the place for this,” she sniped. “And for the record, the doors were shut when we got to the bottom of the stairs.”
“That doesn’t mean that they weren’t blown closed by the same gust of wind that pushed all of you back, and while the fact that the eerie growl seemed to coincide with the wind, it’s only speculation without some kind of proof,” Jesse calmly explained.
Tony’s temper was short and Jorden could see him seething in spite of the fact that he hid it well, but he did seem to calm a bit when she rested her hand on his shoulder.
“Well without breaking down the video and checking for anything we missed this discussion can’t really go any further and it’s getting late,” Matt said diplomatically. “With the day we have ahead of us tomorrow, I suggest that we all get to bed.”
The others nodded in agreement and started to head upstairs, though with a brief glance from Matt, both Jorden and Jonas stayed back.
“What’s up?” Jorden asked. She was worried that she was about to be reamed for so hastily heading up to the bell tower when they heard the ringing and she was too tired to engage in an argument with Matt now.
“We were interrupted,” Matt said then looked over at Jonas. “We still have those devices to listen to.”
“Now?” Jonas questioned, though when he saw the very serious looks on both Matt and Jorden’s faces he shrugged and led them back outside and around to the side of the house.
This time they were not interrupted and all three of them headed down into the cellar. It was surprising that while they were in another country on an island from seemingly another time, all of the items in the cellar were quite the same as what someone would find in the cellar of a house back in the States.
After clicking on the overhead light, Jonas led both Matt and Jorden to a darkened wall in the back. Once he reached the wall, he removed what looked like an empty, wooden pallet and pulled out a satchel. Inside the satchel were four small devices that resembled the ghost hunting team’s own digital recorders, though were a bit more sophisticated, along with a slightly larger box, which was still quite small, that didn’t seem to have a purpose.
“That’s it?” Matt questioned incredulously.
Those were Jorden’s sentiments as well.
“It isn’t as though they planted bundles of gadgets then prayed they wouldn’t be discovered during some point of the investigation. Besides, if I don’t miss my guess, it was the caretaker who did the planting and you saw how frail he was. I think that this was about the best he could manage,” Jonas explained.
Jorden still didn’t like the man but thought that she could detect a fair amount of disdain in Jonas’s voice for what his partners had done. It could still be an act, but Jorden didn’t think so; he seemed genuinely upset.
“The recorders were programmed to play back at random intervals throughout the evening hours, since that’s when you do your active investigating.”
“Let’s hear it,” Matt said.
Jonas looked up at Jorden and then at Matt. “What? Here?”
“Why not?” Matt questioned. “You’d rather do it upstairs where the others could hear and raise even more questions?”
Matt had a point and Jonas knew it, and he offered an understanding nod.
The first recorder Jonas pulled out was from the refectory.
Jorden, Matt and Jonas all picked out a place on the floor to sit and listen to the playback of each device.
The noises on the refectory playback were the same as were heard when each team passed through; mostly banging and some shuffling of feet, but no EVPs.
“Well that pretty much trashes anything we got from the refectory,” Matt almost growled.
“That was all that was picked up?” Jonas asked curiously. “I thought that there was a video…or something.”
Matt glared at Jonas, which cued Jorden to speak up. “Not from us. There was a picture taken by some kids we received a while back but all we got as far as evidence in our investigation were the banging and shuffling sounds, along with the slightly elevated electromagnetic field,” she calmly explained.
“What’s next?” Matt snapped.
“The People’s Church,” Jonas said.
“I take it that the recorder has the mysterious singing and praying on it that Saph and Tony said they heard,” Jorden said.
Jonas gave her a weary nod. “Afraid so,” he said then pushed play.
Both Matt and Jorden could only shake their heads as they listened to the playback. It wasn’t a very long recording and it varied very little.
“What you can’t explain, however, is the drain on the batteries every time someone took a recording device in there,” Jorden said.
Matt shook his head again. “It doesn’t matter,�
� he said, “even if there is something in there it has to be dismissed,” he sniped. “We can’t look at anything in that church as legitimate because of this,” he said as he picked up the device. “We’ll be lucky if we can salvage the investigation itself.”
“I assure you that there were only the four playback devices and the single EMF emitter,” Jonas defended adamantly.
“Because they told you there were only the five?” Matt questioned. “And you believed them?”
Jonas slumped back against the wall. “Stanly Cushman…” he shook his head, “…not at all, but I do trust Seth Crandall, and if he says that there were just the five, then there were just the five.”
Jonas’s words did little to comfort either Jorden or Matt. “Perhaps,” Matt said, “but I still think that the three of us need to head out and do a thorough sweep of the monastery grounds as well as the hospital grounds first thing tomorrow.”
Often times Jorden agreed with Matt and he might be right now, but he was unrealistic to think that the three of them could complete the sweep in just one day and before the investigation into the hospital grounds started, and she told him so.
“We don’t have a choice,” Matt argued. “If there’s a chance that there is something here that can invalidate this investigation we need to find it now,” he said then looked at her with determined, dark eyes. “I should be canceling the damned investigation altogether, but aside from this…breach…I really do think that there’s a real, intelligent haunting going on here. If that’s the case then it would be our first and I want to finish it.”
She understood and nodded. “Fine, but I still don’t think that we can do it alone,” she said. “We need to have at least a couple more people helping us out.”
Jorden could see the conflict in Matt’s eyes and knew that he wanted to agree with her but he shook his head. “We can’t,” he said. “If we mention this to any of the others it’s bound to get out to all of them and then this investigation would officially be history, not to mention the fact that everyone else is needed to set up equipment.”
He had a point, but she knew the others and she knew who they could trust, and she didn’t think that he was right about this. Still, she had no choice but to nod in agreement. “Fine, but we’re going to have to get up early to get started, and it wouldn’t hurt to get out of the cottage before the others wake up and start asking questions.”
Matt agreed. “We’ll head out at five-”
“AM?” Jonas questioned. “You’re kidding.”
The expression on Matt’s face stated clearly that he was not kidding. “We’ll meet in the dining room and head out from there. If we do happen to run into anyone the story is that we’re taking final look at the monastery grounds in the light of day to possibly debunk anything we’ve already found. It will also give us a chance to throw out the evidence from the refectory and the church without raising too many questions.”
Both Jorden and Jonas nodded.
The tension in the cellar lifted a bit and all of them rested back. “Now how about the recordings from the hospital grounds?” Matt said, though it was more an order than a request. “Even though we haven’t been there yet I still want to hear them. That way, if we hear something similar we can be extra careful in the analysis and take a look around for any devices that may not have been mentioned or discovered.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Caretaker’s Cottage – 2:30am…
A light breeze blew the sheer curtains in the bedroom and while the others could sleep; Isis could not. From the moment she had gone to bed nearly two and a half hours ago she had tossed and turned. The fact that Jorden and Matt refused to discuss what was going on between them and Jonas didn’t help matters; it only begged more questions and made her mind run in even more circles.
Finally deciding that sleep was not going to happen, Isis checked on the others, to make sure that she was the only one roaming the cottage then headed down the stairs and to the kitchen to have a hot cup of Jorden’s decaffeinated tea. As she put the tea kettle on the stove and started the gas burner she could hear the wind pick up again outside and she shook her head. She actually loved storms and the energy from them; it was when there was an electrical storm that spiritual activity seemed to be at its highest. The theory was that entities could draw from the storm’s energy and become strong enough to be seen. But instead of feeling energized she was now freezing and tired of getting soaked every time she headed out to do her portion of the investigation. And to be honest, as active as this place was, an electrical storm was not necessary; the entities here were damned determined and would likely let their presence be known no matter the energy that surrounded them…or lack thereof.
It was amazing, yet scary at the same time. Never before had Isis ever found herself in the middle of such a paranormal hodgepodge. So much was going on around them and it seemed that they were experiencing every kind of haunt they knew existed. What scared her was the fact that they might be dealing with a non-human entity in both the bell tower and the mausoleum. The fact that a demon might be in the mix was farfetched but not completely dismissible, and if there was a demon, then they were going to need help. Of course the SCP team had always held their own with anything and everything that came their way, but never before had they come across a possible demonic haunting and the thought scared the shit out of her. And what bothered her about as much as the haunting itself was the fact that no one had yet addressed the possibility. If they were dealing with a demon they needed to know who it was and the sooner the better…before one of them ended up possessed.
BANG!
Isis jumped from her chair and spun to face the front door, which had blown open and was now letting in a slew of rain and storm debris.
Isis wrapped her thick, terry robe around her and cinched it tight as she jogged to the front door to close it however before she was able to even get a hold of the doorknob she heard a scream from outside somewhere. She stopped and stared through the open door and listened. She heard it again. It was familiar. It was calling her.
“It can’t be,” she said as she took a step towards the front door. “You were just sleeping-”
“Isis! Help me!” she heard from the direction of the cemetery followed by another terrified scream.
“Jorden!” Isis called then ran out the door without a second thought.
Rain sluiced down in sheets and sprayed mud all over her white robe and her bare feet. “I’m coming Jorden! Hang on!”
“Hurry!” Jorden’s voice desperately called. “It’s coming!”
Isis slid in the mud as she tried to slow at the gates of the cemetery, and she slid into the bars of the entrance. “Jorden!” she called. “Where are you?”
There was no answer but Isis knew for certain that Jorden was inside so she pried the door open and hurried inside the cemetery.
Most times cemeteries didn’t bother Isis too much; she had reached a point in her abilities where she could turn off the frequencies that used to pummel her senses every time she even approached a cemetery and now the only person she was tuned into was Jorden.
“I’m here Jorden! Where are you? Call to me sweetie!”
“I’m right here,” Jorden said calmly from behind her, causing Isis to turn on her heel and almost fall on her butt.
“Jesus Christ! You scared the hell out of me!” Isis scolded then took a closer look at her friend. Something wasn’t right. “Are you okay?” she asked. “You were calling desperately. I thought that something might have happened, especially after your last trip down here.”
The strange look in Jorden’s face didn’t dissipate as she tried to give her a reassuring smile, if anything, it grew even more distorted. “Of course I’m fine,” she said. “I just came out for a walk and thought I saw something.”
“You came out here for a walk?” Isis questioned incredulously. “In the pouring rain?”
Jorden shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep.”
Isi
s was truly confused and thought about opening up her mind to Jorden, though hesitated because of the cemetery’s energy, not to mention that if there was one person she knew could block any psychic intrusion it was Jorden, whether she knew that she did it or not. “You seemed to be sleeping just fine a few minutes ago when I left you in the room,” Isis said finally and cautiously.
Jorden shrugged and turned towards the mausoleum. “Why don’t you come with me and see what I’ve found,” she said and headed towards the back end of the cemetery.
For a moment Isis stood and watched as Jorden headed through the rain wearing only the oversized t-shirt she had worn to bed. Mud was kicked up on her legs as high as her lower thighs and Isis figured that it went higher, beneath the shirt, while the shirt itself was muddied and soaked, as if she had been outside for quite some time and endured some kind of struggle.
“Are you all right?” Isis asked when she caught up to Jorden. “You seem a bit out of sorts.”
Jorden looked back at her with a friendly smile. “You tell me,” she said. “You’re the psychic.”
“You know that I don’t open my mind in cemeteries,” Isis almost laughed. “It opens me up to too much trouble.”
Jorden looked at her for a moment longer before she turned back to the mausoleum, which seemed to come up on them far quicker than it should have.
“Don’t you close yourself off in cemeteries?” Isis asked out of the blue.
For years Isis had suspected that Jorden had some form of psychic abilities, though had never dared to bring it up to her.
Jorden stopped and looked back at her with a quizzical look. “Me?” she questioned. “I’m not psychic.”
“Yes,” Isis insisted. “You are.” She pulled up even with Jorden and looked up into her green eyes. “You may not have completely realized it yet, but you do have the ability to reach out to others with your mind.”
Jorden continued to gaze at her skeptically before she started to laugh. “You’re insane,” she charged in between laughs. “I’m about as psychic as the fly on the wall just before it ends up smudged all over the bottom of a magazine.”
The Haunting of Isola Forte di Lorenzo Page 18